With Gov. Deval Patrick's recent proposal to sell three licenses to build Massachusetts' first casinos, gambling has emerged as a topic of relevance to the state and the Boston College community. The two-day gambling conference held on Thursday and Friday, sponsored by the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, was an ample opportunity for academic discussion.
Alan Wolfe, professor and director of the Boisi Center, submitted his grant proposal two years ago. "I had no idea when it began that it would become a big issue in Massachusetts. It seemed to me to just be a hugely important change in American life," Wolfe told The Heights. "The four events [that constitute the conference] seem to tackle different aspects of the problem. Almost all of the discussion about gambling is about economics, and [the Center] wanted some of that but [we] were also interested in the history of the theology of gambling."
Two of the panels-"The New Politics and Policy of Gambling" chaired by theology professor Rev. Kenneth Himes, O.F.M., and "Theology, Gambling and Risk," chaired by Judith Wilt, professor of English-featured presentations by professors and researchers, each with their own published papers.
"I am most interested in two questions," wrote R. Shep Melnick, political science professor and discussant for The New Politics and Policy of Gambling panel, in an e-mail to The Heights, "What political forces have led to the expansion of gambling, and what do we know about the effects of this expansion?"
When Dwayne Carpenter, professor of Hispanic studies and discussant for the Theology, Gambling, and Risk panel, spoke with The Heights, he hoped the conference would provide a springboard for discussion. "I think that each of the papers has its own conclusions, but to say that overarching conclusions [will be reached], no," he said.
The first panel focused on the political aspect and historical transformation of gambling, the latter on the theological and moral aspect. Professor Charles Clotfelter of Duke University, a presenter in The New Politics and Policy of Gambling panel, predicted that Massachusetts is on the verge of becoming the 14th state allowing commercial casinos, which are casinos owned and operated by private companies. "We have become a gambling nation," Clotfelter said. "There are only two states you can be in and not find someplace where you can gamble legally: Idaho and Hawaii." Clotfelter also noted the interesting political aspect of gambling: "The federal government is a bystander; [gambling] is a national trend but always at the level of state governments."
William Galston, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution opened the Theology, Gambling and Risk panel by quoting another author when he said, "Gambling has gone from sin to another point on the entertainment map."
Galston concentrated on Judaism in relation to gambling, while presenter William Stuntz, professor at Harvard Law School, focused on gambling from the standpoint of theologically conservative Protestants.
Galston noted the totalistic view of Judaism, which is the belief that every sphere of human life is within view of judgment. The legal aspect, Galston explained, focused on the communal effects of gambling, while the suspicion that there is something inherently suspect about gambling has never quite disappeared from the Jewish outlook. "The tension between the declaratory law of the community and the practices of individuals lent itself to problems of enforcement," Galston said.
Stuntz also noted the overarching nature of gambling politics in relation to morality. "In a society in which some believe vices like alcohol, drugs, and gambling are morally wrong and destructive and others think they are harmless pleasures, you would think the solution would be to have different laws in different parts of the country," Stuntz said. "This is not the case; you either see national bans or nearly uniform state law, as it is with the toleration of gambling today."
"In the 1950s and '60s, the federal government made a major investment in tackling criminal gambling networks. It didn't work; the amount of illegal gambling grew even as the number of gambling prosecutions grew," Stuntz continued. "In the last 30 years, Americans have seen the rise of the pro-life movement and the war on drugs, but there has been no war on gambling. On the contrary, most forms have been functionally legalized and state lotteries have spread widely."
Be the first to comment on this article!